🇮🇳 New Delhi · Healthcare
Doctors, insurance and emergencies in New Delhi
Excellent and affordable private hospitals, a public system most foreign residents will not use, and air quality that is itself the main health issue.
The thing people get wrongDelhi's medical care is genuinely good and genuinely cheap by Western standards. The health problem that actually affects you every day is the air, and it is a housing and equipment decision more than a medical one.
Private hospitals
Apollo, Fortis, Max, Medanta in Gurgaon and Sir Ganga Ram are the institutions most foreign residents use, with English throughout, fast specialist access and costs far below Europe or the United States. India is a major medical-tourism destination for exactly this reason. Standards between the top private groups and the tier below them differ, so ask locally.
- Direct specialist appointments, often same-day.
- Costs are a fraction of Western equivalents even at the top hospitals.
- Most large insurers have direct-billing arrangements with the main groups.
Insurance
Employer cover is common and usually adequate for routine care; check the annual limit, whether dependants are included and whether outpatient treatment is covered at all, as many Indian group policies are admission-only. International policies are worth holding if you travel or may be treated outside India.
- Check whether outpatient care is covered — many group plans are inpatient only.
- Confirm the hospital network and direct-billing arrangements.
- Pre-existing conditions are typically subject to waiting periods.
Air quality, which is the real issue
Delhi's winter air quality is among the worst of any major city, with a severe season running roughly from October to February. The practical response is a housing and equipment one: purifiers with real HEPA filters in bedrooms and workspaces, a flat that can be sealed, awareness of the daily index, and masks rated for fine particulates on bad days. Families with young children and anyone with a respiratory condition should weigh this seriously in deciding where and whether to live here.
- Severe season is roughly October to February, peaking around November.
- HEPA purifiers sized to the room, in every bedroom and workspace.
- Check window seals and whether the flat can be closed effectively.
- Monitor the daily AQI and adjust outdoor exercise accordingly.
Water, food and the summer
Tap water is not drunk; households use RO filtration or bottled supply. Stomach upsets in the first weeks are common and usually mild. Summer heat is extreme — May and June regularly exceed forty degrees — which makes reliable air conditioning, and reliable power to run it, a health matter rather than a comfort one.
- RO filtration or bottled water for drinking and ice.
- 102 and 108 reach ambulance services in much of the region; private hospitals dispatch their own.
- Extreme heat in May and June; confirm the backup power runs the air conditioning.
- Mosquito-borne illness rises after the monsoon.
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